Axl Grease for Wal-Mart, Best Buy

New Guns N' Roses album may be big-box exclusive.

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Break out the Charlie Manson shirts and start swinging at camcorders: Guns N' Roses' follow-up to their much maligned fifth album, The Spaghetti Incident, is imminent.

How imminent? Let's just say it won't be another 15 years. Supposedly.

Now, fans not only have to contend with the problem of when, but f where. According to Billboard.com, the band's perpetually delayed sixth album may see an exclusive release through a big-box retailer, most likely Wal-Mart (WMT) or Best Buy (BBY).

Metal fans are leaning toward Wal-Mart, since security is much more lax there.

This comes directly on the heels of the report that AC/DC's next album Black Ice will be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. The megastore was also the only chain to sell recent releases from Journey and The Eagles.

For those interested in purchasing these fine albums, Wal-Mart should already be your go-to spot for music selection.

The decision was presumably made by the head of Front Line Management, Irving Azoff, who manages Guns N' Roses. Azoff was also responsible for giving Wal-Mart sole rights to sell The Eagles' album.

No word on whether The Eagles or Wal-Mart groaned louder after that deal was final.

However, the question of who holds exclusive rights to peddle Chinese Democracy might be moot at this point.

Nine of the 14 tracks were leaked to file-sharing sites in June, which proves that Guns N' Roses fans, while not averse to white guys in cornrows, do have a problem with waiting. Since most albums are leaked in their entirety weeks before the release date, the remaining 5 tracks will be on iPods without listeners ever facing a Wal-Mart greeter.

Then again, pre-release pirating is mostly relegated to the youth demographic, and thus isn't a clear indicator of how an adult-skewed album will fare. Journey's Revelation, released in 2008, topped out at #5 on the Billboard 200, and The Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden hit #1 - both without their devotees having to go through the daunting task of using a computer.

At any rate, Guns N' Roses zealots have been given an Axl-mandated release date of next month. The track "Shackler's Revenge" will be included in the Xbox 360's version of Rock Band 2.

If sales prove successful, Shackler's Revenge will be also turned into a riotous first-person shooter for the Xbox.